SCOTSTOWN FARMER PLAYS MATCHMAKER WITH LONELY HEARTS SNAILS!

A Co Monaghan farmer has created an innovative way to help thousands of his snails have a second chance at finding love. Dad-of-two Kieran Corley, the founder of Irish skincare company Bragan Skincare, harvests the key ingredient, snail mucin, directly from his Scotstown snail farm. The snails, who mate for life, will not always find their partner on the first attempt – but matchmaker Kieran, 54, has come up with a solution to give lonely singles another chance to find “the one”.

“Snails are monogamous – and at the end of each breeding season I find a number of snails in each bed who have not paired up,” he said. “I take all of these lonely hearts and transfer them into their own section of the farm to give them one more chance to find a partner. “When they meet, their courtship lasts approximately 24 hours, during which time they will slither all over each other until they decide they are a match.” Kieran started with 50,000 snails, and now has over a million on the farm thanks to his breeding programme. The snails spend their life in enclosures called beds, with approximately 125,000 snails in each bed. Up to 90% of the snails in these beds will find a mate in a given season, and Kieran collects the remaining 10% and places them in a special bed he has set….